Big rises in house prices in most parts of Sussex are good news for estate agents or people who want to sell and move to less expensive parts of the country.

But they are causing problems for many local people who are being forced out of their own villages and towns.

The independent consumer magazine Your mortgage forecasts that, within five years, nearly all houses in Sussex will be worth more than £200,000.

Property price rises of a third or more in that period will be the biggest in England.

Already youngsters are having to leave Sussex in droves because they cannot afford to rent, let alone buy, houses in their own towns.

The problem is made worse in most of East Sussex because, while property prices are high, wages are low.

This also affects key workers such as bus drivers, nurses and teachers who can get jobs all over the UK because of their skills.

Many of them simply cannot afford to come to Sussex which is why hospital services are stretched, teachers are in short supply and bus companies are having recruitment problems.

Instead, homes are being bought by people from London who have high incomes and can afford to move to Sussex because prices in the capital are even higher.

There is nothing anyone can do in Sussex to slow down property prices, but measures must be taken to reserve housing for local people and key workers.

They include shared mortgages and providing a high percentage of social housing in any new development of more than a few homes.